5 Tips for Around Europe as the Season's End – 23/5/21

Leicester City host Tottenham Hotspur at the King Power Stadium, knowing that they will have to better Liverpool’s result or outscore the Anfield club by four goals if they are to reach the Champions League group stages for the first time since 2016/17.

Ryan Mason’s Tottenham come into this match knowing that they will have to win to have a chance of qualifying for the Europa League and to even finish in seventh, which would see them in the newly formed Europa Conference League.

The first player in focus on this tip is Tottenham’s Harry Kane, who could be playing his final match for the club, having publicly stated his desire to leave. The 27-year-old is currently in the race for the Premier League Golden Boot, as he is currently level on 22 goals with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah going into the final game of the season.

Foxes striker Kelechi Iheanacho is the other forward that we have tipped to score in this match, as the Nigerian striker has had a sensational second half of the campaign, scoring 12 goals in his last 14 matches.

Lille come into their match against Angers on the final day, knowing that they can win their first Ligue 1 title since the 2010/11 season and just the fourth in their club’s history, as they lead PSG by one point with a significantly inferior goal difference, as well as being three points clear of AS Monaco in third place.

Christophe Galtier’s side come into this match, having lost just one of their last 19 matches in the league, whilst Angers are in 12th place and have won just one of their last seven matches in all competitions, losing six of them.

Turkish striker Burak Yilmaz is currently Lille’s top scorer in the league coming into the final match of the season, as the 35-year-old has scored 15 goals in 27 appearances, with six of these coming in his last six matches.

The final match of the Serie A league season sees Bologna face Juventus at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, where Andrea Pirlo’s side will likely have to win and hope that results go their way in matches involving AC Milan and Napoli if they are to qualify for next seasons Champions League.

Bologna are 11th in the table and have nothing but pride at stake, whilst Juve are in fifth place, one point off both Napoli and AC who occupy fourth and third places in the league standings and face Hellas Verona and Atalanta on matchday 38.

Inevitably when discussing Juventus, the player that we are focussing on is Cristiano Ronaldo. The 36-year-old is the top scorer in Serie A with 29 goals in 33 appearances and has scored four goals in his last four matches, against Inter Milan, Sassuolo and Udinese.

The odds of 17/10 for Ronaldo to score first are justified when considering the calibre of the player, as well as his individual league statistics this season.

Another huge clash takes place on this list of European football tips, as league leaders Atletico Madrid travel to relegation battling Real Valladolid, with both teams desperately needing the win.

Atletico know that a win would seal them their first league title since 2014, which would be their 11th overall. Whilst Valladolid, who are owned by former Real Madrid and Brazil legend Ronaldo are looking to prevent themselves from playing second-tier football for the first time since 2018.

Diego Simeone’s men in are in good spell of form, having won three of their last four matches in the league against Osasuna, Real Sociedad and Eibar, with the only exception in that run being his side’s 0-0 draw away at Barcelona.

Valladolid are on an 11-match winless run, with their last victory coming against Getafe on 6th March.

The last meeting between these two sides resulted in a 2-0 victory for Atletico at the Wanda Metropolitano back in early December, thanks to second-half strikes by Thomas Lemar and Marcos Llorente.

The final game on this list comes from the Bundesliga, where FC Koln host Schalke at the Rhein Energie Stadion.

This match has huge significance in the relegation battle in the German top flight, as the hosts Koln are one point adrift of 16th place Werder Bremen, and two behind 15th in the table Armenia Bielefeld, whilst Schalke were relegated in late April, following what has been a horrendous campaign for the Gelsenkirchen club as they have managed three wins all season and conceded 85 goals in 33 matches.

Koln will be coming into this match with some nerves, as they will know that they will have to win against the Royal Blues, due to having a significantly inferior goal difference to Bremen. They are without a win in their last two matches, following a 0-0 draw against Hertha Berlin, as well as losing 4-1 to Freiburg, but they did beat both RB Leipzig and FC Augsburg 2-1 and 3-2 before these matches.

Schalke will come into this match with some confidence having earned a shock 4-3 win over Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend, which as mentioned above, was just their third league win of the season.

The last time these two sides met was in late January, where Koln earned themselves a narrow 2-1 win, thanks to a 93rd minute winner from Jan Thielmann, having had Rafael Czichios’ first-half opener cancelled out by a Matthew Hoppe strike.